Xtine: You know how much this fic (and all my others) has depended on you. I know I started it on my own (what the hell was I thinking?) but it probably never would have been finished without you bugging the crap out of me.
Chase: Glad you like them. Very relieved, Love.
TempleMistress: It's too bad you don't know Gundam Wing. But I thank you for reading anyway! And I've got a Harry Potter one started, as well as a Pirates of the Caribbean one, plus a couple of ideas for Star Wars, so hold on, something you know should be on the way relatively soon…
Charlie00: Hope you're not too disappointed that it is not, in fact a Duo/Hilde, but a Duo/Heero. Sort of. I see the relationship between Duo and Hilde as being more of a brotherly/sisterly love thing…
Yaeko: Don't worry; Heero is fine. It's nothing he can't handle. I couldn't bear to hurt him. Plus the guy would undoubtedly kick my ass if I tried!
Black angel: I'm working on it! Stupid midterms…
Karina: While this one doesn't have Zechs in it, I'm hoping you will read it anyway. I might have another Zechs one for you that Xtine has been bugging me about for a while that I'm thinking of writing. I just need to find the time, unfortunately…
Part 2: The Hospital
Duo rushed up to the reception desk in the lobby waiting room of the hospital. The young nurse on duty looked up at him and stared momentarily before regaining her composure and asking, "Can I help you?"
Duo nervously raked a hand through his bangs, running it over his head and down the length of his braid, feeling the freed strands of hair self-consciously. 'Yeah, I guess I don't look all that great right now,' he thought before answering, "Umm…yeah, I'm here to see a friend."
"And your friend's name is…?" The nurse looked at him expectantly.
Duo stared at her dumbly. What name had Heero been admitted under? Quatre wouldn't have given his real name. Or at least Duo didn't think he would have, anyway. Heero would go berserk if he found out that people knew his name, that his 'cover' had been blown. He'd probably kill himself in the condition he was admitted for; if Heero was in the hospital it must be bad. Duo's heart jumped into his throat at the thought. All five ex-Gundam pilots were supposed to be living quiet civilian lives after Operation Meteor. So it made sense to think that Heero could have just been in a regular car accident. Because he wouldn't have – couldn't have possibly – been on a mission. Especially not without Wing Zero. There was no need for either – missions or Heero's Gundam. And Wing Zero was an absolute impossibility, as were the other Gundams. They – along with all other mobile suits and mobile dolls - had been destroyed after the war against Mariemaiea, or more precisely, against Dekim Barton. They weren't needed in Relena's time of peace. So Heero couldn't have been on a mission… But Duo had doubted right from the start of peacetime that Heero could ever truly give up being a soldier; judging by the state of things right now, it appeared he had probably been right. Quatre's words came back to him. 'He's had an accident. He crashed.' The words echoed over and over in his mind causing his anxiety to mount.
Duo was jerked out of his thoughts and back into the hospital by the soft touch of a hand on his shoulder. He started and spun around, equally startling Quatre.
"Hello, Duo," Quatre greeted with a smile, and then looked past him, speaking to the nurse. "Thanks, Tracy. I can take him to see Odin." She smiled back at the charming blonde and nodded, giving Duo a strange look – just how long had be been standing there? – before going back to her paperwork. Quatre's gaze shifted back to his fellow ex-pilot. "Come on, he's this way."
Duo followed Quatre as the Arabian pilot led him through a series of identical off-white hallways, past scores of identical brown-painted doors. The only dreary splash of colour was a dingy green paint that ran along the baseboards, along with the matching green and white linoleum floor tiles. Duo kept his eyes on them as he followed Quatre, unwilling to look at the doors they passed, not wanting to think of all the people behind them in similar conditions to Heero's. Injury and death had always been inevitable in his life, but that didn't mean he wanted bear witness to any more of it than he had to. And besides, that part of his life was supposed to be over now. But the familiar sterile smell of the hospital reminded him that it never truly would be.
"Odin? Why that name?" he asked, breaking the silence and startling poor Quatre again. "And what last name did you use?"
"Lowe, Odin Lowe," Quatre replied, glancing at him briefly before turning his attention back to the numbers on the doors. "Because that's the name that was on the IDs he was carrying; he was already checked in under that name when we got here."
'What? IDs? But Heero has never ever had any ID on him before.' Duo shoved the thought from his mind, dismissing it as unimportant, and looked back down at the dull green of the floor tiles. The silence resumed, the only sound the soft tapping of the two ex-pilots' shoes as their strides brought them down the hallway. Brought them closer to Heero.Suddenly Quatre stopped in front of the door labeled 825, brown and closed like all the others. There was only one difference to Duo, one hugely substantial difference: the person who lay in the bed behind it.
Duo reached out a trembling hand and pushed the door open.
End Part 2
And, by the way, this takes place roughly a year after Endless Waltz (AC 197), putting the guys at around 17 or 18 years old.
Sorry it's so short. I seem to have trouble writing longer things... However, while the next parts aren't long, per se, they are slightly longer than the ones I've already posted.